I am not an expert on this, and my only experience is with something similar happening my Spicer. However, the difference was that I could get it into first and shifted without the clutch from there on. I found shifting without the clutch a pleasure compared to double clutching. If you have a tach, it is very easy to do; actually easier than shifting with the clutch. On mine, there was no getting around the fact that the clutch needed to be rebuilt, and since it is a 5a, the engine had to come out. After all the research, we did replace it with an Allison. It came to more than a clutch rebuild but was certainly worth doing. It changes the whole experience.

We did install Jakes at the same time, which is certainly also a wonderful thing, but it is not essential. You can and will downshift your Allison quite a bit anyway to stay at the rpm's you want. Yes, it will shift automatically, but you can do it better. Again, if the engine is coming out, that is a good time to put the Jakes on. It will be a lot easier on the ground. It is also a good time to go through a bunch of other engine stuff like injector size, advance timing, hoses, etc. This all ups the price, but will save you in the long run.

Another small note, IF considering the 740, you will face an issue with the flywheel SAE2 size and Bell Housing SAE1 size, would make sure who ever does the changeout, fully understands what the situation is, I am sure they have a torque converter disc plate for the SAE2 flywheel bolt up and a SAE1 for bell housing, burt I found a .5 to .625 slacer needed to space the trans back. What a cluster f%@k, it all worked out in the end.If I faced that again, I would change the bell housing to work with the SAE 1 flywheel, then all goes smooth.Just saying, be ware.Dave

--bus can't move, can't get into gear--when I press the clutch pedal the transmission doesn't slow down to allow me to shift into 1st

I guess you know that this rotating gears issue is pretty much standard in a lot of our buses and the only way to get it into gear is to depress the clutch and force the gears to stop by forcing it into gear. Lots of noise but doesn't seem to do any harm. Some get around it by forcing it into second first to get the gearbox to stop rotating and then changing into first. Seems to vary with oil temperature and is often worse when you start off in the morning.

Have you tried putting it into first gear with the engine stopped. Fully depress the clutch and start the engine.

If the clutch is faulty and is genuinely not disengaging, the bus will want to move off, but if it is just the normal rotating gearbox problem, the bus will sit there until you want to move off.

Some have such problems with the gearbox continuing to rotate that they resort to slipping it into first just before coming to a stop but of course that gets a bit trying on the old knees if you have to sit there for minutes waiting for the traffic to clear.

I was able to move the bus!I rolled it backwards and around a corner to point the nose downhill.Got it eolling forward and slipped it into first then shifted without the clutch. Worked great as there were no stops. I used to do exactly what you say Tony...slip into 1st as i approach a stop and hokd that clutch down (i have young knees).i will try starting it with the clutch down and in 1st next time.for now were happilly broke down and having a good time.

Hi Dave, howzit goin? Are you in a safe harbor? Did you figure out what's wrong? Had dead batteries last night, was supposed to bring the Italian Greyhound down to LA today, will check water level on the 2 yearold batteries, have to go to Alaska wed, don't want to be on I15 Sunday. Maybe the planets are aligning up early and they're sapping all the energy from the old girls already! Lvmci...

Hi Dave, I hope all is well, did some maintainence on the 8D batteries, water down low after almost 2 years in the desert, should have known, the gods are just remindng me to do maintainence, fired right up, off to LA, backb tonite, lvmci...

FWIW the clutch is the easy part, I got all the parts I needed to rebuild mine from Luke pretty much overnight. While having a press to take it apart is nice, you don't need one, you can do it with bolts to relieve the spring pressure and pull it together again. Or about any truck transmission shop should be able to rebuild it for you in about a day. The hard part is getting to the clutch in the first place...